The Flop House - The Flop House: Episode #26 - 88 Minutes

Episode Date: November 9, 2008

0:00 - 0:30 - Introduction and theme.0:31 - 5:02 - We explain why we're the dynamic duo this week, and talk about how much we miss Stuart.  Also: we engage in the name-droppiest name dropping yet, as... Elliott tells the story of the time he met PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA.5:03 - 32:52 - We talk about 88 Minutes, the movie that is a worse example of real-time filmmaking than Nick of Time, and a far worse example of post-mortem semen-swapping than Presumed Innocent.32:53 - 37:25 - Final judgments, plus a brief side-track into dream analysis.37:26 - 45:43 - The sad bastards recommend.  45:43 - 46:32 - We talk about Stuart some more.  Jeez!  Why don't us guys get a room, already!46:33 - 49:03 - Goodbyes, theme, and outtakes.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 On this episode of the Flop House, we discuss the surprisingly long 88 minutes. Hello everyone and welcome to the flop house. I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Elliot Kaylen. And Stuart Wellington is not here. And I'm like, that jerk. No, I mean, boo, like I wish he was here. Sure, that as well. But I'm like other times when he's absent,
Starting point is 00:00:50 we don't have a special guest. Boo. Yeah. We tried. We tried. Everyone was busy. Yeah. Apparently people were too excited about sleeping off their hangovers
Starting point is 00:01:02 from last night's election. Yeah. We are reporting this. were too excited about uh... sleeping off their hangovers from uh... last night selection here uh... a mere day after brock obama was elected president of the united states uh... elliott brock obama appeared on the daily show the week before the election so would you like to take this opportunity to take credit for his win yes actually i'd like to take credit for uh... his win
Starting point is 00:01:26 because of the fist bump that i shared with him about a year ago i guess right when he came when he was he was a guest via satellite yes that that last week was a guest in person quite some time ago and uh... due to a mishap involving a bag of the readers that i won't get into here we were unable to shake hands and so what we fist bumped instead right and I think I think I can't taught him I think I think I can't push bump that and I think just I gave him the power to win presidential elections through
Starting point is 00:01:53 my fist or through the Doritos dust that was on your hand that yes and that was radioactive Doritos dust Doritos dust that made it impossible for me to shake his hand because I had not washed my hands since I'd eaten a bag of Doritos. Yeah. I must have looked like the biggest slob in the world because I was literally standing at the end of a line of people waiting to shake his hand and I'm just sitting there stuffing Doritos into my face as he makes his way down the line. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:17 It was just like the Mr. Bean when the Queen, the Queen or the Queen mother is going to the movie theater that he works at and he's literally like trying to fix his fly was slowly wake works is way down right online so i finish the three of those and i was like oh no i don't know so my hands looking around for napkins and didn't that makes it so much worse because before i had i pictured the story like you know you're in the editing bay or something you're eating burritos you want you like you like exit the room and uh... people are leading him out and they'll go out of the it's you know say hello to senator obama and you're like oh i knew very well that i was going to be shaking his hands
Starting point is 00:02:52 you're plenty of time to rectify this is your question couldn't maybe dust it off on your pants couldn't resist the sirens song of Doritos and then i didn't have enough time to clean my hands thoroughly is that well but now the thing is like this improves your anecdote tremendously. You're going to be telling your grandchildren, yes, the first black president. I was unable to shake his hand because the Doritos. In fact, you should probably get an endorsement deal from Doritos. I wish that Doritos had a series of commercials called Doritos stories.
Starting point is 00:03:20 And I could tell that one. And they'd pay me in Doritos. The same way, I've actually fantasized recently about someday if I am famous doing ads for Popeyes fried chicken because I love their products so much it's true it's doing ads from like hey I'm Elliot K. And oh this is great chicken and I'm saying that because I really believe in it. Well I think I want to tell all the audience members and I feel like I would ask for a deal where I could walk into any Popeyes and eat for free whenever I want it. Yeah well I think the only reason that Elliot continues to do the show as he rockets to success
Starting point is 00:03:51 is that I live mere blocks away from a Popeyes and every time before the movie comes in with a box of Popeyes. So Doritos and Popeyes, both of you, if you're listening, we are not too proud to take your spots. Don't give up on this endorsement opportunity. Yeah. So we listen to by fives of people. I think it's in part Stewart's absence, in part the film that we watched. I feel like we're having a little effort. A little drag down, yeah. Yeah, Stewart definitely would have helped because he's full of energy and hilarious sayings and also like he'd probably do Something crazy or silly, you know or say something
Starting point is 00:04:28 Yeah, probably do a dance. He probably do the real ghostbusters dance. Hey dudes. Well this movie wasn't so good Was it you know so forth He modulates his voice a lot when he talks. Yeah, but much lower than that Listen, this is like I really he talks. Yeah, but much lower than that. Listen, I can't. This is like, really, so dudes. Eight eight minutes, eight eight minutes is the most awesome movie ever. Was it just me or did that movie suck?
Starting point is 00:04:54 Yeah. I mean, am I being... My brush to him is not very good. More of like a Paul Lind, the sort of story. No, that doesn't sound anything like Paul Lind. But yeah, Stuart's not here to end and the movie itself was this is a movie We were both very excited to do on the show 88 minutes starring Al Pacino. Why I? Think there was something about the fact that stars Al Pacino a once great actor who has let himself fall apart
Starting point is 00:05:17 In terms of not even in terms of like his life is fine But in terms of not caring anymore. Well, I mean, we don't know yeah This but it's outside, but it's not like, you know, William Holden or Marlon Brand or something like, like an actor who had serious, emotional or, you know, addictive problems and his life kind of fell apart a little bit. Or Michael Moriarty who moved to Canada
Starting point is 00:05:36 and opened up a piano bar. Yeah, exactly, I guess. Oh, but it's this is Al Pacino who still is incredibly well respected. Could do any movie he wanted. He's a man who, or at one point, now I feel like he can no longer open a movie and guarantee success. And also the movie had the gimmick that part of it at least was supposed to be told in
Starting point is 00:05:55 real time. The Al Pacino's character only is, is it is called by a serial killer and told the only as 88 minutes to live. And then in theory it's real time from that point on. Right. Well, look. And also there was the semen transference note. Yeah. But that even that wasn't a big major plot point. We'll get to that part. Let's make it clear though for viewers who may be interested in watching this film, say that you have 88 minutes before you know your your tickets to Mama Mia. You you're taking your lady friend to a show. Yeah. And she's like, Oh, I'll be ready in just a minute and you know, your tickets to Mama Mia on Broadway. You, you're taking your lady friend to a show.
Starting point is 00:06:25 Yeah. And she's like, oh, I'll be ready in just a minute, and you know that means 88 minutes. Yeah, for personal experience, you know that she takes exactly 88 minutes. Exactly. To pretty herself up, and you're like, oh, I can pop in 88 minutes, starring Al Pacino.
Starting point is 00:06:38 No, you can't. Yeah. Put in one of the old Universal Horror movies, they're all around 80 minutes. But. We'll read a book, you know, do something else. This film is actually an hour and 40 minutes long. I have to say.
Starting point is 00:06:50 And long at that. At that, it was 80 minutes long it would have been a better movie but nowhere, it would have been about as incoherent as it is right now. That's also, let's also make it clear that this is no high noon, this is also no nick of time starring Johnny Depp. Or snake eyes snake eyes yeah the real time component of it is it's massaged it's the kind of movie where it's it's supposed to get the killers as like you have 65 minutes to live and then Al Pacino gets in the cab and says I got to drive across town you cut to him on the other side of
Starting point is 00:07:23 town and then the guy and it'll be five minutes later in screen time, and the girl goes, you have 60 minutes to live. He's like, wow, he got across Seattle in record time. I don't know how big Seattle is, but I assume it takes more than a cut worth of time, like 20 seconds, five seconds. Dana, you all right?
Starting point is 00:07:39 It was like 88 minutes. We were gonna take you down a couple of matches. It really did. Maybe we should just pop in the Brad's movie and enjoy ourselves to explain the plot of the film then yeah i go through it why don't you alpichino is famous forensic psychologist jack gram
Starting point is 00:07:55 who's a college professor and is as i mentioned a famous forensic psychologist professor so in a fantasy world already who is most famous for putting away a man named John Forster on death row who Supposedly hangs women from pulley systems and then kills them and tortures them But like there were all there's only circumstantial evidence Plus the word of the famous Jack Graham to put him away So there's questions about maybe this guy was actually innocent
Starting point is 00:08:23 He's about to be it's the day of his Execution he's scheduled to be executed and MSNBC is running a what four-hour long live interview I don't know they they live broadcast this is a movie where here's if I and maybe I missed something But it seems that Al Pacino goes to his apartment goes through his Tivo listings chooses the interview on MSNBC Presses play and then a little later calls into the interview on MSNBC, presses play, and then a little later calls into the interview as if it's still going, this is that, like, it's as if time stopped and doesn't restart again until he just likes it on his Tivo, and he can call in.
Starting point is 00:08:56 But anyway, it's the daily execution and people who are close to Al Pacino start dying and he gets a phone call, a mysterious phone call, in that stupid serial killer fake voice that everything uses now. You have 88 minutes to live, TikTok, Doc. TikTok, Doc. You have 88 minutes to live, blah, blah, blah. And then, so he suspects everybody. He's a college professor now, so he walks into his class and immediately starts berating
Starting point is 00:09:21 the students, assuming that one of them is the killer, and it on from there and makes less and less sense as it goes on one thing that really sort of bugger about this film was uh... the fact that albacino immediately takes this call it face value there's no there's no beat where he's like what that's weird well probably a crank call and then i have a famous forensic psychologist Dr. Jack Graham. Yeah, no instead he he said he immediately walks into class and starts like looking like searching the students faces and Like ripping cell phones from their hands. He does everything short of Hold a newspaper in front of his face with eye holes cut out and just watch people through it. And I sort of also wonder, you know, if that's true, why is he still teaching his class?
Starting point is 00:10:09 If he's going to take it at face value, and this is what I was trying to remember before, is that this movie is real time in so much as they show a lot of unnecessary in between steps. Like, once the 88 minute starts, it's like, well, we're going to follow him as he goes through every component of his day. Now's teaching his class now he's driving back now he and his TA are going back home that he and his TA played by Alicia with and a lot of time a lovely Alicia with a lot of time hanging out in his apartment and it reminded me of ring who the original Japanese version of the I guess the feature film for Japanese version of the not the, I guess there had been
Starting point is 00:10:46 like a direct video version before that, and this was a remake of it. But anyway, the one that was remade in the United States where they get the phone, they watch the video, they get the phone call it says, you have seven days to live. And they're like, oh my God. Oh, well, I guess I'll start figuring this out tomorrow. Well, like seven days, well, I should rest up. Yeah, later, like later movies, like, well, we've got two days left to live uh... let's go down the library research this it's like
Starting point is 00:11:09 a six o'clock libraries closing uh... let's call it a day all right they're got it they can't they can't do the world in seven days that they take a little slow let's say a lack of intensity or lack of uh... believable anxiety if alpuchino is to believe that you know we are to believe that Alpuchino if he thinks someone's killing him that's when the movie should kick into dry let's take this out on the road but instead it kind
Starting point is 00:11:36 of ambles around for a while it kicks into drive pretty quickly and then it has a very long flabby section in the middle and then his car blows up and suddenly things get kicked into into crazy overdrive or nothing makes sense it makes sense to the no sense to the degree that I have a hard time sort of picking out what I want to talk about it's the fact that the killer who is a human being with not without magical powers seems to be in several places at once all the time yeah just ahead of alpach, they're breaking into Al Pacino's apartment.
Starting point is 00:12:07 They're also a cross-town killing someone. They're setting up in a labrit public system in a public building that no one sees, making, and then arranging for someone else to make a phone call. And it's just, it doesn't. Yeah, well, all right. It's like there's an army of killers.
Starting point is 00:12:22 And there's this, and there's a ridiculous red hairing that goes on forever with uh... we should which ex-husband guy la ford but you know the famous uh... french canadian trapper gala ford but it's also like they're being chased by a man in or by some figure in black leather outfit who's wearing a motorcycle helmet and she goes, that's guy, it has to be. Really?
Starting point is 00:12:49 Okay, I guess no one else is ever dressed like that. This is the only guy in Seattle who dresses like that. She's never seen motorcycles before. That's what you got to realize is in Seattle, there's only two motorcycles. One thing about the whole being everywhere thing is the whole setup of this movie requires like the guy to continually be making phone calls to Al Pacino be like eight eight minutes, 79 minutes, 76 minutes, 69 minutes, and you know Alacino will get messages like scrolled on his uh... overhead projector at class or then
Starting point is 00:13:28 re like keyed into his cars uh... paint job and you have to wonder like how does the the murderer know that alpacino is going to go down and get into his car exactly seventy two minute mark because he may be he took a maybe he took a different route to get to the parking garage it looks like it's 72 minutes I'm only watching on 60 minutes this is great I got some time back and the killer is like watching from afar and slaps her Farhead and goes no he's not getting the message properly I gave away I gave away that the killer was a woman Yeah well I was about to give it away because there's a scene where Lili Sobiaski, right before
Starting point is 00:14:06 that actually, or right after, in the parking garage, gets beat up. And later on, it's revealed that she's beat herself up to throw suspicion off of herself that was not there in the first place. And Al Pacino, you know, she's like, oh, I can't believe I let the killer get away. That was so stupid of me. And Al Pacino goes, don't beat's like, oh, I can't believe I let the killer get away. That was so stupid of me. And Al Pacino goes, don't beat yourself up. And then he says it again. As if, in case you didn't catch it the first time.
Starting point is 00:14:32 For shadowing. Don't beat yourself up about it. This movie is nothing if not thorough in reiterating things. There's several lines of dialogue that just basically repeat the same thing over and over in different permutations of the sentence. You see uh... multiple you see the same flashback of a celebration at a bar over and over again with no new information being added every time and at the end it is one of those movies where there's a showdown between the hero in the villain in which it's made pretty clear what's
Starting point is 00:15:00 going on and then the hero has a phone call with somebody else in which he goes over what the plot of the movie was audience we know that this movie was pretty crazy and unbelievable probably having a hard time keeping track this is kind of like connect to the kid again in New York it's kind of hard to get track of the first time you watch it's just playing it I was watching it and I'm like all right movie yes this movie was crazy and it had a lot of twists But that doesn't mean I didn't understand it. It just means it was dumb It doesn't make any sense yeah, there's no sense to it and even for like a fun stupid movie
Starting point is 00:15:36 It's not it's not fun. It's just stupid. It just doesn't make it doesn't make enough sense that you are intrigued and want to know It's going on and the whole thing is so, there's this very CD undercurrent to it. There's a lot of women's bodies hanging from ceilings. Yeah, well, like, the first nude woman we see in the film is doing like this crazy. She's standing up, nude brushing her teeth with holding one leg up in the air, standing on one leg. I'm willing to believe there are women out there who would do that, except for the teeth brushing.
Starting point is 00:16:03 Like, maybe they're stretching in the morning, like, you know, I'm naked, I'm doing a little yoga. I'm really like, you know, I'm just gonna air everything out. And now, but also to brush your teeth, that's multitasking, gone, a muck. But even that like there's a part where it's revealed that Alphuccino's assistant, this woman, it was me. I accidentally
Starting point is 00:16:25 helped the killer because I got drunk and she seduced me and we made out in your office. It was like, wait a minute, I didn't even know this character was a lesbian. I didn't, I don't, it can't, it's not important now. But it comes out of, it comes out of nowhere. And it's one of those things where it's like, that's kind of CD, but also like, how would I supposed to put two and two together on that one when I didn't even know I didn't even know these characters knew each other. The movie was like we're we don't have it we haven't had a close-up on a woman's pantyclad ass as she hangs from the ceiling for a while. Let's have some casual pointless lesbianism thrown in.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Yeah, but also like it's a movie where you can tell Lee Listo Biesky is the villain at the end because her hair is much more wild and disheveled than it was earlier in the film. I guess they did. That's good directing. They did foreshadow that Lee Stobiesky was a lesbian because as you pointed out she was dressed like Annie Hall in the class. I didn't even thought of that. That's right. Yeah, she's wearing a tie and a vest and a shirt which of course means if this is 1952 she must be a lesbian. Except for she was also in love with the killer on death row. That's true, that's untite.
Starting point is 00:17:29 I guess she was just playing lesbianism to get to the information she needed. It's never quite clear if she's in love with the killer on death row or if she's just in thrall to him in some way. It's a movie that if they established at the beginning of the movie that mind control and hypnotism existed in the world of 88 minutes, the movie would make a lot more sense and would be much easier to take. But this movie, oh man, a lot of style, huh? It is. Wow.
Starting point is 00:17:55 Stylistic flourish. It's a movie that has a lot of cracks in the foundation of the story and they said, let's plaster over this. We have a lot of unnecessary camera moves. A lot of zooming in. A lot of unnecessary camera moves what is zooming in a lot of the slow mo the best the best thing is that alpacino remembers his his back stories that his young sister when he was twenty eight and she was twelve just quite a gap in ages his young sister was murdered so now he's trying to get revenge against the idea of murder but uh... yeah i was so angry at that like long monologue
Starting point is 00:18:25 because no one in movies goes into a uh... field just because they're interested in it or that a talent no any exciting incident childhood trauma and yeah alpichinos uh... young sister was killed by a serial killer so now he hunts your real kill is when he remembers her, his memories are shown as if I guess they're like 16 millimeter film from the 70s. There's a lot of like scratches and a kind of occasion. The general yellowish, yeah, double limited general yellowish color
Starting point is 00:18:57 filter. But it's as Alvachino is so old that he's remembering in a film stock that is no longer used. Yeah. Well, you know, back in that time, eight millimeter films, how people made memories. It also, yeah, it didn't help that they showed a picture that's supposed to be him with his sister when he was young. And it's like they used a picture of young Al Pacino and it's like, oh, that's what he looked like when he made good movies. Yeah. That's what he looked like when he made CERPACO. And Doug, the afternoon. Oh, sorry. Oh, and also he likes driving his own car for some reason. His car gets blown up and he goes up to a cab driver
Starting point is 00:19:32 and he goes, listen, I want to drive your cab across town. I'll give you $100. And then the rest of the movie is him driving this cab driver, driving this cab round, while the cab driver sits in the back seat. Yeah, and you wonder, if he's gonna rent the cab, he can just pay the cab driver. Like, why does he need to be in charge?
Starting point is 00:19:50 It's not like he's even driving like super fast. No, the cab round's like, I'm not gonna break the law. I'm fine, I'll rent the cab, you get in the back. And no, he's just like driving sensibly around town. And more than that, there's a scene towards the end. My wife wife pointed out there's a scene where he's sitting at a red light and it's turns green and he's like all the cars go around him because he's transfixed he's putting the pieces together he's looking at a file he's making some sort of revelation that I actually could not follow what he was
Starting point is 00:20:18 something about someone using an alias for something yeah but there's clearly just him alone in the car and then there's no one in the back seat drives to the rendezvous rendezvous with a killer and he he runs out and the captain gets out of the back and he's like hey it's not all done yet do you need me anymore and you're like what was taking a nap in the back was he sleeping in the back seat I was wondering what would be like to drive around in the trunk of this thing as long as you're gonna take over Heck seems like a good time
Starting point is 00:20:48 It's there's another character in it who is Al Pacino's I guess police contact who is it's one of those things where it's like I'm gonna have to arrest you your fingerprints and DNA are all over the bodies You've got access and motive you know everyone who was killed We found your belongings on the scene of the crime and your signature Wait, no and your semen work was in her vaginal canal And you're and your semen was in her vaginal canal and Alvachina goes don't you see it's a frame up Give me 10 minutes and the guy goes okay. It's elementary police work. Come on Classic frame. They teach us they teach us at the academy if it
Starting point is 00:21:25 looks like an airtight case there's probably a problem with it so give the guy extra time and it also the it's implied I guess that alpacino was set up to have sex with a woman then they killed her removed his semen from her body and injected it into another dead body to implicate her at him in that murder to yeah to murder so you like two murders for the price of one semen. This is something that's brought up almost casually in conversation and then dropped. And it's such a horrific idea.
Starting point is 00:21:52 I'm just like, there's something so disgusting about it. And it's like, no, let's just throw it in the script. Well, and again, that was also a development that happens at the hour 20 minute mark. Likewise, we got to wake him up with some semen in there. happens like at the hour 20 minute mark. Likewise. The audience is getting tired. We gotta wake them up. What's them semen in there? Well, but he doesn't even get accused of like these murders
Starting point is 00:22:10 until like the hour mark. And I'm like, shouldn't this have happened way earlier in the film to add a little more urgency? I mean, I know that he's gonna be killed in 88 minutes apparently and that should add enough urgency but not the way he's wandering around. Apparently we need another shot. I feel the thing, like the killer stops calling him after a while.
Starting point is 00:22:26 It's almost like the movie forgets about the 88 minutes thing until later on. And then it just turns out that the killer arranges a rendezvous with Al Pacino and then waits for the countdown to get to zero and then it's just gonna shoot him. It's not like he's been injected with a poison that goes on off the internet.
Starting point is 00:22:42 There's no bomb set to go off in 88 minutes. It's not as you pointed out, Crank. He hasn't been given the Hong Kong cocktail. And his heart's gonna explode or whatever. There's really no reason for the 88 minute deadline to be there. As you pointed out, like her plan would have gone a lot easier if she just warned him at the top.
Starting point is 00:22:59 Like you got 88 minutes left, left him alone, and then an 88 minute mark came up and shot up or even what she really wants is a confession from him that he committed perjury and that the guy in death row is probably innocent but she accomplishes this through a series of mysterious mergers and crazy clues and like her plan would have been that much harder for him to figure out and that much easier for her to get the information if she didn't go around murdering random people that he knew and then placing his DNA all over it's like she's like I'll get him arrested thrown in jail and then I'll have access to him to get this
Starting point is 00:23:33 taped confession. All right. It's not really how it works. Yeah, I guess that she was like, okay, I can't just go up to him and threaten him to get this tape confession because then clearly I better spin a web of deceit. But then he's like, but then she's like, I got to discredit him. Implicate him as a murderer. Then kill him.
Starting point is 00:23:52 I don't know, like it seems like it's not a well-fledged. It's not a well-fledged. It's credited him as a, is his confession worth anything? Like, I don't know. It's not, it's not a mastermind plan. I wish Stuart was here to answer these thorny legal problems Yeah, I was talking about how things are reiterated too much in this film like things happen twice when they could have happened once that's another issue
Starting point is 00:24:14 I have with the climax of the film not once but twice does Lili so Vesky have One of the red herring characters in the film call alpacino and confess that she's the person do behind everything she has debris car on girls character who is like the the dean of the school or something some kind of dean who's always wearing glasses that are way down on her nose but it's also like this is this is some school in in Seattle that that with no ethical standards because like like Al Pacino and his law students or criminal investigation students, whatever they're doing,
Starting point is 00:24:49 they go to a bar to celebrate the fact that he convicted, he led to a man's conviction, but the dean is also there, and the professor and students were all drinking together and dancing, and then he goes home with one of them, and the dean is there, like watching this. I don't know, and she seems to have some sort of romantic anger over the whole thing like it seems like a very
Starting point is 00:25:09 unprofessional school like this is what i'm saying if you want to take jack grams class just know he will come on to you and he will grab your uh... chest as he throws you to the ground to avoid a bomb going off in the car as it was a lesia with he was alvichino is very clearly growing a lesia with one point it It seems. But it bothered me though. Like, Deborah Carr Angers character, the killer had Colin with a false confession. And then she also had Alicia Witt calling with a false confession. Both of them to lure Alvacino to the rendezvous point. I'm like, wouldn't one of the suffice?
Starting point is 00:25:40 We're even just the killer saying, Dr. Jack Ram, meet me at such and such place. You've got 10 minutes to live. TikTok. Because he wants to know who it is like, he'll just go there. I will reveal myself to you. Finally, this game of cat and mouse will end. This game of cat calls mouse and mouse runs around for a while and then goes to his apartment, sits down for a little bit, watches TV. Yeah. Calls in to MSNBC to rant angrily. And they put up the picture on the screen that says Dr. Jack Ram. And as you said, it looks like they caught him coming out
Starting point is 00:26:11 of a club in the middle of the night. Yeah, it's like a it's like a perp photo of early Sean Penn. That's the idea of a famous forensic psychologist, I guess, is one of the things that gets me. It's the same way that it's like Roadhouse. Well, that's the famous bouncer. Where, yeah, I think Mike Nelson writes a thing about that. Like the idea of a famous bouncer
Starting point is 00:26:29 doesn't make any sense in Road House. And the same thing here, like, even the guy who wrote like mind hunter and like the sound of the lambs was partly based on his experiences, whose name I don't remember at the moment. Like, even he is not so famous that everybody knows his name. Like, or that if he called into a TV show they'd be like oh of course well yes the famous oh yeah oh you're known everywhere this is oh well of course Dr. Jack Graham will come right this
Starting point is 00:26:55 way sir he's like I don't know like the way Henry Kissinger was a famous club goer and dated lots of movie stars when he was secretary of state, like that, but he's a forensic psychologist. Yeah, with no actual power out in the world, like Henry Kessinger. He does have a badge that I guess says that is the ultimate ad for DJIQ. The Dr. Kessinger stopped by for just a moment. I've got to go. I enjoyed watching 88 minutes with you. I think, uh, do you think Dan it would have been easier to watch 88 minutes if we didn't know that this is a new world with Barack Obama as president and we won't have to worry about
Starting point is 00:27:30 movies like this anymore? I feel like this is part of the change that we can believe in. Is that 88 minutes, there's not gonna be nothing like this again. Yeah. Well for me it was like okay, Barack Obama's won. Yay, everything's wonderful and then like I like, oh no, no, I have to return to my my normal life, which includes watching movies like 88 minutes on purpose. I gotta tell you I was for a voluntary podcast. I want to make that clear. I was so excited
Starting point is 00:27:54 about 88 minutes and being as depressed about it as I am now. It makes me second. It makes me double think my excitement about our eventual watching of Mr. McGorium's Wonder in the Oil, which is another one I've been very excited about. Yeah, that's slated for December. I'm really worried that there's going to be a scene where Natalie Portman confronts Dustin Hoffman about how his semen was found in a dead body in the back closet of their magical toy shop. I wanted to say just one last thing about this film and... and that was uh... man so many red herrings it is full of red herring
Starting point is 00:28:28 including uh... one uh... security and the security i named like something to franko i remember i don't know and also a door man who's just kind of goofy who looks like he wanted an office of new heart but the camp of security is like it it's like ct u and twenty four like it's the most the screens everywhere lots of like plexiglass smoked glass uh... partitions but also he's talking security guards security guards like yeah because they're sitting up as red herring is like yeah i'm gonna go to
Starting point is 00:28:55 the police academy become a real cop not have to take care of the snottie college kids especially these rich bitches and he's like and patina's like yeah got to go and also it calls the police and asked them to look at this guy but it's like what kind of again the security guard has so much rage about the people the women that he has has to protect I appreciate the efficiency of that though like within two sentences he says something potentially incriminating like the anger comes floating to the surface but even like the suspicious door man, they go to El Puccino's buildings like where's so-and-so? He's dormant, he's like, ah, he's not here, I'm a temp.
Starting point is 00:29:30 Ah, there was a guy came while I was looking for you, dropped off a package, it's right here. Didn't leave his name though, there's no return address on this. Yeah, I don't know. Like, why even bother with all the sides? I'm surprised they didn't make the cab driver a suspicious character Surprise they didn't have like his mailman come by and drop stuff off fresh director ring the mail I don't remember ordering though this fresh direct. Oh your name's right here on the order form You don't want these keywees. Here's a suspiciously large eggplant
Starting point is 00:30:04 I don't know what's in the eggplant scenario. I can't wait to find out though in 88 minutes too. 176 minutes. The eggplant protocol. Oh, I forgot how Al Pacino, as you mentioned while we were watching it, Al Pacino's performance is fairly, he's not overdoing it the way he does, and say the devil's advocate. No, he's too high. He does have some yelling scenes, but they're not.
Starting point is 00:30:24 It's like he's getting angry, so it makes sense. But at the end of the movie, there's like a flash of the alvacino we've come to know and love, where he's taunting the real killer on the phone. And he says to him, you're playing failed, and now you're going to die. And then he takes the phone and just throws it off the seventh floor of a building.
Starting point is 00:30:42 It's completely unnecessary. And you're like, wait, that's evidence. Yeah, the phone being the killer, the Lili Sobieski's phone that she was using to contact the guy on death row. Yeah. A piece of evidence. But he just throws it off the balcony. He's winning you phone.
Starting point is 00:30:58 I hope you can hear it landing. Yeah, and the other before we move on, and I want to, the other weird thing about this movie is it's it's a session with police that i was going to say this strange like pro evidence tampering stance it is because it turns out that you know yes alpacino uh... tamper with it's to get a convention that's in the alternate ending
Starting point is 00:31:19 no but they say that in the the actual movie makes his confession but i feel like it's that's under darest you don't know well alright i think that they're making it clear that he uh... or he coached a witness at least he did yeah they did at least something at an ethical to push this through and the and we need that the killer is actually the killer but then like the movie isn't making this justification like that's alright as long as we're sure that the killer's the killer we don't have to deal with
Starting point is 00:31:44 the criminal justice system and like and't have to deal with the criminal justice system and like, and I'm like, wait, but the criminal justice system is there because we cannot be sure of these things. Nope. As long as we got Jack Graham watching out for us, the movie opens by the way, we should have mentioned this in the year 1997 and they really recreate the world of not as someone who lived through 1997. Yeah. I really, this is how I remember it, which is a newspaper with the headline Princess Diana dies. Antichlose up on the date 1997.
Starting point is 00:32:11 Plus one the date one of the characters says to the other who would want to kill Princess die and then they go to sleep and one character's radio starts playing quick playing games with my heart with my heart with my heart With my heart and it was like wow we really are in 1997 Are we and then it goes nine years later and you know we're in 2006 I guess it was really important that they really set the time They remember 1997 when all those serial killers running around that's another it's great about is like why nine years later It really doesn't matter
Starting point is 00:32:44 Could have been three years. Yeah, you ask a lot of questions. It's just like that way that two-year-age 88 minutes so, uh, Dan are we gonna do our ratings or yeah sure? Sure, sir. It's not here, but I feel confident he would say it was a bad bad movie Yeah, is this a good bad movie a bad bad movie or a movie that you liked in some way. I'm gonna say The first ten minutes and the last ten minutes were like great crazy bad movie a bad bad movie or a movie that you liked in some way i'm gonna say the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes were like great crazy bad movie but man there's so much just boring stuff in between i was i was really i was really encouraged by the very beginning of this movie which was just
Starting point is 00:33:17 which is balls the wall crazy yeah it it starts that you in your introduced to two characters who are sisters who live together all you know that when sisters all you know about them is there said that princess diana died suddenly a killer arrives there's a there's a shot where someone turns around in the camera zooms towards their faces they see the killer then it cuts to a cat then it cuts to the the other character the exact same thing turns around camera
Starting point is 00:33:41 zooms to their face and then as they see the killer and then cuts back to the cat again Yeah, they've each been strong up in close succession in the exact same sequence of shots Which we're though is like the killers Emma was that he hangs people up by pulley is then he cuts them very slowly with what looks like a tiny pizza Slicer but it's like so you have you're having really that he drugs them then he takes a while drilling holes in the ceiling So you have your heavenly that he drugs them then he takes a while drilling holes in the ceiling Screwing in the pulley then he's got to run the rope through He's got to test the weight of the pulley to make sure it's gonna hold right maybe you guys have got to put some anchors in just to make sure Structural integrity of the ceiling has to be done right then he ties them up to the pulley Then he's got to pull them up into the air and then he's got to set it so it holds that they're still in the air
Starting point is 00:34:23 It counterweight of some kind, time you know it's a very elaborate system speaking of m.o.s of the killer uh... this reminds me the reason that it's eighty eight minutes by the way is the killer of alpichino's sister said to uh... alpichino as he left after killing the sister it took me eighty eight minutes referring to the matter of time to her to him to just dismember her first of all, what a weird thing to say as he leaves. By the way, I thought you want to know, 88 minutes. I think he thought Al Pacino was the guy he asked for to come by from Guinness for the record of, but that's the other thing I was going to say. If it
Starting point is 00:34:59 takes you 88 minutes to dismember a 12 year old, you're just a lazy killer. Or very weak. He might have had very weak arms strength yeah was using like a nail file so what were you gonna say uh... ignore my cat trying to knock over a lamp behind you and just keep worrying it's the police the adult slayer killer uh... i was gonna say it's a bad bad movie i'd say it's very poorly made and
Starting point is 00:35:22 i was sorry that elicia wit was in it because I think she's usually very likable and the only thing that made it for me was Lily Soviesky's crazy accent which is vaguely Eastern European or Dutch or Irish at times or yeah someone write in and tell us what that accent is tell us where she's from because we yes we can easily discover that information that was a lazy we like so this is the flat-housed lily so viesky where where she from contest rather than finding the information out
Starting point is 00:35:52 immediately by using google or maybe wikipedia we would rather wait you know two or three weeks or if you're listening lily so viesky bar on com's do if i remember my college German correctly where are you from? Where do you come from to be specific? But that's let's let's leave her accent behind I Don't know if I can tack a course brazilated the future. I'm really worried now that I'm gonna have a dream where Alvachino accuses me of pulling his semen out of one woman and putting it into another woman
Starting point is 00:36:22 It's an obvious frame up. Man, everyone has that dream though. It's like being naked at school or a test. Seeming, seeming Pachito dream. Or like a dream where like you need to go to the bathroom but you can't find a private place to go. Yeah. Or a nuclear war. That's a dream I get a lot. Do you get the nuclear war dream? No, I think I think about it so much in my waking hours that my brain is tired of it by the time I was asleep.
Starting point is 00:36:44 Yeah. I used to have a dream very regularly that I was being chased by leave and cleaf from for a few dollars more and just like chased through time like we would start out in the old west and run straight through into the present and then when we got to the present present someone would stop him and be like let him go and then I just leave. This is like a great 1970s TV show that you never had the chance to make. Time Chaser. There is a movie called Time Chaser though, but uh...
Starting point is 00:37:11 It's Don't I? That's what they call them. Just cleaf. Just cleaf. I don't think anybody ever called him that ever. I did. Just now. Okay, well, too shay.
Starting point is 00:37:23 Point McCool. Anyway, we should go on and make our movie recommendations, which will be a lot shorter I did. Okay, well, too shay. Point to McCool. Anyway, we should go on and make our movie recommendations, which will be a lot shorter now that Stuart's not here. Now that we've dismembered Stuart in 88 minutes. 88 minutes, that's all it took. Why don't you recommend something? Well, what am I going to recommend?
Starting point is 00:37:39 I just this past Monday saw a Sinectok Key New York, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut on feature length film, I guess. And it's gotten a kind of mixed reviews, I guess. People are not happy with, I don't know, it's a movie where like either like it or you don't like it, but it's such a, it's so much Charlie Kaufman's, I assume, like his personal vision on film of what he wanted the movie to be,
Starting point is 00:38:04 that you admire it I enjoyed a lot even though it's a really rough movie to sit through at times like it's a very you know serious Bleak movie, but there's some really funny parts. It is like 88 minutes of movie that feels longer than it actually is And takes a little too long, but I enjoyed a lot of those very good. I read one of my least favorite a lot of those very good. I read one of my least favorite explanations for a movie on the IMDB message boards. It's a movie that kind of skips through time very erratically. I'm maybe a message board for people who are too stupid to watch movies. But there's, did you see it, Dan or no? No, I don't see it. I don't want to say too much then. There's a lot of like surreal moments in it, things that aren't super logical but
Starting point is 00:38:44 make sense on a thematic or emotional level because it's you know it's a Charlie Kaufman movie and it's a movie what are you going to do and I read one of the explanations online was obviously Philip C. Moore Hoffman's character is in a coma starting from this point in the movie everything after that is just his imagination in the coma and replies that were like yeah that makes a lot of sense okay now I get it is like okay well you just took this kind of singular artistic vision and turned it into a bad you know like it was all the dream yeah or like a bad psycho analysis where it's like it's like if someone watched eight and a hat like it feels like Charlie
Starting point is 00:39:20 Kaufman's eight and a half to a little to turn next to him like if you watched eight and a half you were like I guess he's just someone hit him on the head and he's just remembering his life out of order. That makes sense. Yeah. I saw it. Well, I also love this happens actually on the IMV message boards a lot. I feel where someone puts out an explanation that has no real support in the text of the film. And then if people call them on it, they're like,
Starting point is 00:39:50 well, everyone has their own opinion. And I'm like, no, that's not. But you have to work with the materials that are given. You can't just make things up. It's not like I watch, you know, like the Philadelphia story. And I'm like, this is, these are actually earthlings who have been put in a zoo on Mars. They're working out there.
Starting point is 00:40:10 The reason why there's such a competition for this one-women is because there's so few women in the planet. But it reminded me of, I was a big fan of Memento when it came out and I remember freshman year of college, there was like a thing like, get together and watch Memento and just a couple of people showed up and was like, oh like get together and watch memento and just a couple people showed up and was like, oh this is a good way to meet people and I
Starting point is 00:40:28 Went and we watched it and it's you know and and everyone was like, oh man I'm kind of having trouble figuring out the plot of this thing that was confusing which is let's say people said the same thing about Snack to key New York, but it's like if you pay attention to it, you will understand what's going on And it's not nonsense, but uh people are like I don't understand. And this one girl goes, here's the way I figured a movie out. He's none of the things he remembers actually happened. He's just a serial killer who's convinced himself that he's tracking down his wife's killer. And that's why he's killing all these people.
Starting point is 00:40:57 And I was like, well, you just took a kind of, well, like interestingly done examination of what memory is and the nature of identity and the past and turning into a very shitty serial killer movie. But as a college get to know you sort of event it was a success because you're like I don't want to be friends with the world. It's true I got to know them and I decided I didn't want to have anything more to do with them. So how with you Jerks.
Starting point is 00:41:19 We say everyone knows mementos basically just a serious version of Dana Carvey's hit film blank slate anyway. So. Yeah. Oh man. Christopher Nolan. What a rip off art. This Momentos basically just a serious version of Dana Carvey's hit film blank slate anyway. So... Yeah. Oh man. Christopher Nolan, what a ripoff artist. What a ripoff artist. Carvey was the otur.
Starting point is 00:41:32 Plus, he made that movie Batman Begins. It was a total ripoff of Batman. Am I the only one who noticed this? I don't understand. He just added a little beginning to it. And then he made that movie The Dark Knight. It's just a ripoff of Batman McGin's. Wait a coffee yourself, Nolan.
Starting point is 00:41:49 How many movies you made? Five, six already copying yourself? Whatever. So I would like to make a movie in Sancia. Total rip off of the book in Sancia. Total rip off of the Swedish film in Sancia. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it's based on a Swedish film.
Starting point is 00:42:02 I was about to say, I was about to base it on the Stephen King king book in san u which has nothing in common with either movie in san u yeah anyway but you were gonna recommend something if you're looking for a bad film which people often are if they're listening to the flop house and you know usually we recommend good movies during this point of the of the show but but 80 minutes has broken your soul. Well, I mean, there's a difference obviously, or else we wouldn't have a rating system between a bad movie that you have no interest in seeing in a bad movie. That is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. And Winterbeast is a great bad movie. I watched it on the day after Halloween with some friends who were visiting from out of town and I had it because I knew it was this horror movie that had a reputation. It was released to DVD in 91 or I guess the release date at least in
Starting point is 00:42:57 general is 91 on like IMDB and on the Netflix, but the film every shot and it looks like it was like a 1960s, 1970s yellow stone tourist host card and it really has that feel. There are all these like knick knacks in it. The set dressers like wasn't thinking, oh this is going to distract from the actual action of the film. It's like, hmm, I wonder if I can work a wooden Indian into this or like a velvet that's how it was Frank us a velvet painting of a buffalo and it has a bunch of stop motion in it like and I love all like stop motion monster effects
Starting point is 00:43:38 and I'll level stop motion is this is this Ray Harryhausen level or like Equinox level I haven't seen Equino, but it's it's really not Ray Harryhausen level. Like Ray Harryhausen level or like Phil Tiffet level. The more like Willis O'Brien level. How many stop motion animators can I name? Let's see. I watched the making of and the guy who did the stop motion actually did some stuff for like liquid television.
Starting point is 00:44:02 So is it like Henry Selik level or, anyway, he was saying? He knows what he's doing, but it's still a terrible movie. And the funny thing is, there are these sequences where there's a fun monster effect. And you're like, okay, this movie showed some imagination and creativity. And then in between, it's just bad movie direct. Like Manus the Hands of Fate level of inept filmmaking and padding and just hilarious dialogue. And so if you're looking for a bad movie
Starting point is 00:44:35 that won't disappoint you as 88 minutes did for both of us, so would recommend Winter Beast. Mr. McGoriam better be good in a bad way. I'd like to note for the audience that Elliot is currently putting his shoes on. He can't wait to get out of here so much. Listen, 88 minutes has tainted this for me. He's putting his shoes back on
Starting point is 00:44:54 as we were still on the air. I'm tired, okay? I just stay up late at work last night. And then I have to go to a party with the cast of 30 Rock and I didn't get to talk to any of them. Oh, Jesus. I was at a bit that i thought you're glad rest life over me can count as central party thirty rock was there
Starting point is 00:45:10 gina gertchen was there i saw her person who else was there i apparently got their too late to meet padma from uh... topchef or uh... padma from star wars well so i'm over your desperately seeking my brain to think of something that might be impressive to say and I have nothing.
Starting point is 00:45:27 No, no, I'm sure. You said you had an open house for grad students today, your office, what was that all like? I'm gonna punch you. As soon as we get off the air, so there's no proof. Maybe I'll let it this far out. Nah, I'll just leave it in. Well, anyway, in the absence of Stuart.
Starting point is 00:45:44 Yeah, where is Stuart anyway? He is in I believe Hot-lanta Georgia teaching people how to paint toy soldiers or something like that You don't really know what he does he trains people they sent him all over to train people Which to me is hilarious because I know that he's actually good at his job But he get they gave him an award. Yeah, but all I can think of when I think of Stuart is, you know, him shambling into the apartment with, like a tall boy of course, lights. And then changing into a tiny bathing suit?
Starting point is 00:46:12 Yeah, in the middle of the, the flop house, just emerging from the bathroom in a speedo. We miss you, Stuart. I guess is what we're trying to say. Is he wearing his formal scorpion belt buckle belt? I Think so. I think so. Yeah, what a great guy like this is not as fun right now. No, let's go home instead, but It is but hopefully he'll be here next time. Yeah for mr. McGoriam
Starting point is 00:46:38 We're not even gonna do that next time probably. I think we're gonna do 27 dresses Awesome, you know what? Let's just do a string of movies with numbers in the title. 88 minutes, 27 dresses, 30 miles to Graceland. What else is there? Come on, we can name some more. Too fast, too furious. Seven.
Starting point is 00:46:58 Just voyages of sand that. No, that's a good, well, it's a movie with good effects in it like winter beast ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha uh... because it's they took a true story made everyone in it much more attractive and much less asian but like the actual guy was like in asian american and i like that i don't know that is a hollywood film occasion all the way called case in his car now to brocco bomb is president that's all gonna change
Starting point is 00:47:39 well this is uh... my friend met pack has a joke in a stand-up routine where it says uh... the people who hate brocco bombama the most are movie producers because now how are they gonna let you know that movie is taking place in the future uh... used to be the shorthand for that was black president now we've we're at that point that was a thing the fronks head of state is no longer funny
Starting point is 00:48:01 but yes it was before it was hilarious well for other reasons it's not funny. But the, let's what, let's what's so great is like, people are like, where's my flying cars? We're supposed to be in the future. We got a black president coming up soon, and CNN had holograms on. It's newscast the other day. We live in the future that was promised to us, and it's not the Blade Runner bad future
Starting point is 00:48:21 where it's always rainy all the time, and what's his name from deadwood and new heart is aging too fast. 88 minutes. I'm at note. Let's sign off. I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Elite Kaelin. I'm sure I'm eligible. Good night.
Starting point is 00:48:34 I lost my world a bit. I want to do. Fuck it. Fuck up Dan, we can do this. I lost my will to live. I want to do fuck it. Fuck up, Dan. We can do this. Don't let 88 minutes be the one that breaks you. I think it's Stuart's absence. Yeah, it kind of hurts me.
Starting point is 00:48:53 It's sad. Oh, I'm... Oh, I'm... Shhh. You

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